


(Not) Pining

by pinecovewoods



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: F/M, Modern Era, Mutual Pining, also again one of the longest things ive written, and jack and spot and mush, featuring baseball player albert, i mean thats literally in the title
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-12 05:51:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16867309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinecovewoods/pseuds/pinecovewoods
Summary: "Not pining," she whispers, "I am not pining."Pining.Shit.





	(Not) Pining

"You gotta stop pining."

The girl looks up from her seat on the metal bleachers, rolling her eyes as she sips at her coke.

"I am not pining," she retorts, "and I don't know why you all keep insisting that I am."

"Because you're so obvious," Elmer says, sitting down behind her, "always staring, you're practically glued to his side all the time, for god sakes you're wearing his freaking jersey."

She glances down at the grey mesh covering her torso, all to aware of the name Dasilva written across the back of it.

"Not pining," she repeats, "he's my best friend, El, and I'm here to support him."

"So are we," this time it's Specs who speaks up, "yet I don't see anyone else wearing that."

"Davey's wearing Jack's," the girl points out, "I don't see anyone heckling him about it."

"Oh please," Specs waves her off, leaning back on his elbows, "they're basically dating already, you can't tell me you haven't seen the not-so-secret glances they share, not to mention the fact that every time we hang out they always end up sneaking off into some other room."

"Yeah well," Y/N shrugs, eyes on the field as the teams change positions, "that's different. Al and I have been best friends since before we could walk," she throws a glance over her shoulder at the two boys, "that's all it is."

Any reply is cut off from the cheers surrounding them as Mush hits a ball all the way to the fence, and the conversation isn't brought up again as the game comes to an end.

It's one a.m. when her phone vibrates on her desk, pulling her attention away from her laptop. 

"Hey Al," she answers, leaning back in her chair, "how's the party?"

"Loud, crowded," Albert slurs above the background noise, "I'm drunk."

"Yeah, I figured," she laughs a bit, "are you at Mush's?"

"Yeah, but I don' wanna stay here," he says, "'nd I can't drive like this."

"You wanna come over?" She offers. "Mush lives right down the street, I can meet you there and we can walk back."

"Oh my god you're amazing!" Albert exclaims. "Guys, Y/N is like the best best friend anyone could ever have!" He shouts, voice muffled by the blaring music.

"I'll be there in like five minutes," she laughs a bit, "don't do anything stupid."

She reaches Mush's soon enough, letting herself into the house and being met with drunken cheers and various greetings from many of the boys. It doesn't take much to get Albert to leave, in fact the boy practically throws himself on top of her when she arrives. 

They don't talk a lot on the way back, the girl focusing mainly on keeping Albert upright as they walk. He finally speaks a little more than halfway home.

"I think there's somethin' wrong with me," he mumbles.

"Whaddya mean?"

"I jus' mean that all the other guys on team are like...experienced," Albert says, "they've all at least kissed someone, or more, and then there's me and it's like...nothing."

"There's nothing wrong with that, Al," she says, "people are different, they experience things at different times. Such is life."

"Yeah but I don't like it," Albert whines, "I hate being like the only one on the team that hasn't even kissed someone."

They've made it back to Y/N's house by this point, the girl shaking her head.

"I don't doubt there's a shortage of girls out there willing to kiss you," she says, leading the boy up to her room, "or guys for that matter."

Albert flops down on her bed, another whine slipping through his lips. She rolls her eyes, handing him a bottle of water.

"Here, drink," she says, "you'll feel better. But you're gonna have a nasty headache tomorrow morning."

He does as she says, Y/N pulling out some sweatpants and a hoodie for him to change into while he does.

"You're still wearin' my jersey," he notices, capping the water bottle and taking the clothes out of her hands.

"Yeah, guess so," she shrugs, "came home and started working on my essay for history, forgot to change."

"Y/N," he mutters, grabbing her hand and looking up at her, "kiss me."

"What?" She exclaims, eyes wide. "Al, you're drunk. You don't know what you're saying."

The boy nods.

"Yeah I do, it's like you said, everyone experiences stuff at different times," he explains, "'nd I want this to be my time, but I don't want it to be some random girl. I know you, I trust you with my life, you're my best friend, so why shouldn't it be you?"

"Because," there's so many reasons, "because I don't know what I'm doing. I've never kissed anyone either."

This only makes Albert nod even more.

"That's perfect!" He says loudly, quickly being shushed by Y/N. "We can both do it together, and that way we don't have to worry about anyone thinking we're bad at it."

"You're wasted."

"I'm drunk, there's a difference."

The girl drags a hand over her face, shaking her head.

"Al, we're best friends," she says, "won't it make things weird?"

"No," he grabs her hand again, "Y/N, I love you, even if it's like...friendship love. Please."

He looks at her with the same puppy dog eyes and pout that's gotten him many many things over the years, and she can't help but give in.

"Alright, as long as you're sure," she says softly, sitting down next to him, "so uh how do we..."

The question goes unfinished, hanging in the air as they look at each other. How do we do this? 

"Here, just..." Albert trails off, placing a hand on her cheek to bring her closer.

He presses their lips together, both pairs of eyes closing automatically. She puts a hand on his knee, bracing herself against him as they kiss. Y/N feels herself melting into his touch, but she can taste the alcohol on his lips and that's what it takes to finally tug her out of the trance, pulling her head back from his breathlessly.

"Go um," she pauses, swallowing, "go change, and drink some more water."

Albert nods, stumbling a bit while he makes his way to the bathroom with the clothes in his hands. Y/N sucks in a deep breath, walking over to her desk to close her laptop.

She brushes her finger over her lips, shaking her head.

"Not pining," she whispers, "I am _not_ pining."

It's a week later when Albert brings up the kiss for the first time since it happened. 

Albert stands on the field, leaning against the fence as he tossed a ball into the air repeatedly. Y/N's on the other side, twisting her shoe in the gravel as he speaks. It's a Friday, game day, and she's wearing his jersey again.

"We uh," he pops his gum, "we never talked about what happened last week, after the party."

She shrugs.

"Didn't think you wanted to," she replies, "honestly kinda surprised that you remember it."

"It's my first kiss," Albert mumbles, keeping his voice low so the others don't hear, "it's kinda a memorable event."

"You don't regret it, do you?" She asks quietly, keeping her gaze on the grass.

"What? No," Albert stops throwing the ball, turning to face her, "do you?"

She faces him as well, her hands just under his as they grip onto the chain of the fence. His name's called from down the field, but Albert doesn't move.

"No," she replies, "I was just wondering. You were pretty intoxicated, Al."

The boy rolls his eyes as she laughs a bit, running his un-gloved hand over his face in exasperation as his name is again called from down the field.

"Don't remind me," he groans, "I swear to god I was hungover the entire weekend."

She laughs again, Albert smiling a her.

"You wanna come over after the game?" He asks.

"You're not going to a party?" She questions, eyebrows raised.

"Nah, not this week," he chuckles, "figured we could watch some movies or something, if you want."

"Yo, Dasilva!" Spot's shouting now comes from the dugout, effectively breaking the two out of conversation. "Quit flirting and get your ass over here to warm up before we kick you off the team!"

Albert huffs in annoyance, shooting the girl an apologetic look.

"Go, warm up," she says, smiling, "I'll see you tonight."

Albert lights up again, taking a few steps backwards. 

"Imma win this for you," he almost shouts, pointing at her before running towards his team.

She can't help the smile that spreads across her face as she makes her way up the bleachers, sitting in her normal spot in front of Elmer and Specs.

"So you're tryin to tell me th-"

"I am _not_ pining," she shoots, turning around to face both boys, "why are you two so intent on making my life hell?"

Specs shrugs as Elmer speaks.

"It's fun."

Later that night she finds herself in Albert's room, a bowl of popcorn situated between them as they talk back and forth. As their laughter dies down, Albert speaks in a serious tone.

"I think we should talk about what happened last week," he says quietly.

The girl groans dramatically, laying down on her side.

"You said it wasn't going to make things weird."

"It's not," Albert rolls his eyes, throwing a piece of popcorn at her and hitting her on the forehead, "I just think we should talk about it. Like we would've anyway if it had been with anyone else."

"Okay okay," she gives in, rolling onto her back so her head is on his lap as she stares up at him, "what do you want to say?"

"I was just thinking," he pauses, shrugging a bit, "maybe we could, like, keep practicing with each other? Like at this point we've had our first kisses but we still don't know what we're doing, and I'd rather try and figure out all of that crap with you than some random person that I don't know as well."

Y/N's pretty sure her heart stops at his words, her gaze now averted to the white ceiling over the bed.

 _This is weird. This definitely isn't normal._ Her thoughts don't change her answer.

"Okay."

Albert smiles.

"Yeah? Really?"

"Yeah, why not," she replies, "as long as it's platonic."

"Completely and utterly platonic."

She sits up, suddenly all to aware of the fact that she's still wearing his jersey, and Albert pulls her a little bit closer.

"This won't make things weird?" She questions softly, barely able to keep her eyes off of his lips.

"No," he whispers, leaning forward a bit, "it's just practice."

And then they're kissing, except this time he's not drunk and _damn_ he's a good kisser. Albert runs his tongue along her bottom lip and she obliges, deciding she likes the way his hands rest on her hips, as if he's getting ready to pull her even closer any second; she's found her new favorite sound as she threads her fingers through his hair and tugs ever so slightly, and again it takes everything she has in her to not melt into his touch. She thought she knew everything there was to know about him, even the way his mouth moved, but this is different, this is new, and this is definitely something she can get used to.

Elmer and Spec's teasing doesn't stop, and even though she knows they're doing it in a friendly way, she can't help but think about their words more than normal. It also doesn't help that now she knows what Albert looks like with blown pupils and kiss swollen lips, and that when she's not kissing him she spends her time telling herself that she is not pining, regardless of what any of her friends try to insist. 

And now Y/N finds herself in Albert's basement with four days left to finish a history project they've barely started; notebooks and printouts scattered forgotten all over the floor thanks to Albert's lips on hers after a few mutters of 'practice' and 'platonic' were exchanged between the two of them.

"We should be working," she mumbles against his mouth, making no movement to loosen the grip she has on his shirt.

"I wanna try somethin' first," he mutters, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"What're you- oh."

Her question is cut off by the new feeling of Albert's lips on her neck, the boy leaving open mouth kisses on the skin.

"A-Al," she breaths, voice cracking.

She feels him smirk against her neck, lips ghosting over her collar bone.

"Want me to stop?" He questions knowingly.

Her mind's foggy, senses overwhelmed with the feeling of him.

"No, g-god no," she finally stutters, "don- _Al_!"

She gasps as he sucks slightly on her pulse point, the boy focusing his attention there. It's all she can do to keep herself from outright moaning, biting down hard on her lip so she doesn't ruin the moment.

He finally pulls back, just as wide eyed and heavy breathed as her.

"Where," she asks, "did you learn to do that?"

Albert blushes a bit, shrugging.

"Saw it in a movie," he mumbles, "thought we could give it a try."

She presses a chaste kiss to his lips, smiling as she pulls away to look at the papers on the floor, and a sigh escapes.

"We really should work on this project."

Regardless of what her friends say, Y/N is not pining, but when he asks for one more kiss with those puppy dog eyes and pouty lips she can't say no.

It's Friday again, championship game day, and a whole month has past since the beginning of their 'sessions'.

"What is _that_?"

Davey had somehow appeared by her locker the next day, eyes wide as he stares at her. Well, more specifically, at her neck.

The girl reaches up, hissing slightly at the tenderness of the spot. After that first time, Albert had discovered he had a certain affinity for hickeys.

"Shit, I thought I covered it up," she says, pulling a small bottle of concealer out of her locker.

Davey takes the makeup from her hand, dabbing some onto his finger.

"Seems like someone had fun last night," he teases, covering the mark, "thought you were goin' to Albert's to work on the science project?"

She swallows, trying to stutter out a response before Davey stops her.

"Jack and I have had our fair share of _science projects_ ," he whispers, placing the bottle back into her locker, "it's okay, I'm not gonna tell anyone."

"It's not like that," she replies, shifting her weight between her feet as she thinks, "it's just...we're just friends. Best friends."

"Yeah, he's your best friend," Davey says, "who you're pining over."

"Oh god not you too!" She groans, but she finds herself unable to argue with him like she has in the past. 

Davey laughs a bit, shaking his head. She smirks, shutting her locker with her eyebrows raised.

"So you and Jack?"

Davey blushes, and that's all the confirmation she needs.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

Later that day she finds herself leaning against the fence, watching as Albert warms up with Spot. 

_Not pining._

Except maybe now she was. And maybe Albert was too. She smiles slightly at the thought, her mind going straight to fifteen minutes prior when the boy pulled her into the field house and pressed a bruising kiss to her lips before either of them could even think of the word platonic. When he pulled away she whispered a 'good luck' under her breath, and with that he smiled and grabbed his helmet, leaving her after one more quick kiss, again with no talk of friendship or practice.

_Not pining._

Except when she looks at him she can feel her heart skip a beat, something she hadn't felt before. He's her best friend, sure, but people fall in love with their best friends all the time, right?

_Not pining._

Except he's done warming up, and jogs over to stand in front of her with a megawatt smile on his face and she feels her stomach do a summersault. His hands rest right above hers, their finger tips touching just slightly through the chain link fence and god does she want to kiss him.

_Pining._

_Shit_.

"Just think," she finally starts speaking, "after you guys win there will be no shortage of people lining up to date the great Albert Dasilva."

Albert smiles, it's not the same smile, and he laughs.

"Yeah true," he says, "I'll send some'a the good ones your way."

She forces herself to laugh, the sound coming out more strangled than usual.

"You going out later?" She questions, trying to keep her gaze off of his mouth.

"Maybe," he shrugs, "depends on if we win or not."

"You will, I have no doubts," she smiles, reaching up so their fingers are pressed against each other, "I'll see you after, okay?"

She tries to hide the _we need to talk tone_ , and if Albert picks up on it he doesn't say anything. He just nods, shooting her another smile before running into the dugout. 

The girl walks to the bleachers, sitting next to Davey as she buries her head in her hands.

"Davey I can't," she mumbles, looking up at him, "I can't do this anymore."

"Can't what?" The boy asks worriedly, placing a hand on her knee. "You and Albert?"

She swallows, eyes darting around their immediate area.

"Promise you won't tell anyone?" She says quietly, taking a deep breath as Davey nods.

Y/N launches into an explanation of what has been going on, starting all the way back the month prior and only stopping when reaches the present day.

"And I dunno I just...I looked at him when he came up and the only thing I could think was that I want a relationship, but only if it's with him," she finishes, letting out a huge sigh as the words leave her lips.

Davey whistles, nodding his head slowly as he processes her words.

"So you and Albert started...this to get _experience_ and now," a smile stretches across the boys lips, "and now you're _pining_."

"Oh my god I am," she groans, dragging a hand down her face in frustration, "what do I do now?"

"Tell him," Davey answers simply, giving the girl a one shoulder shrug, "that's all you can do at this point, unless you want to keep this up until he finds someone else, which will probably hurt a whole lot."

She's quiet, gaze on the baseball diamond as she ponders over his words.

"Shit," she whispers, "I have to tell him, don't I?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

The boys won, barely, but Albert had scored twice and it took everything in her for Y/N not to bolt straight to the dugout when the game ended. She didn't, she sat on the bleachers until the team eventually filed out, until everyone but Albert had left. It's then that she makes her way to him, scuffing her feet in the dirt as she enters.

As soon as she does Albert's grip is on her waist, pulling her into his chest. Before she can speak his lips are on hers, and she can feel the anxiety melt away at his touch. Y/N brings her hands up to his head, knocking his hat off as she tangles her fingers in his hair.

"Sorry, I know you wanted to talk," he says breathlessly, eyes trained on her lips, "but I needed to get that out of my system."

"How'd you know I needed to talk?" She questions, even though she thinks she knows the answer.

"Y/N, you've been my best friend for like, thirteen years," he laughs a bit, "I know you enough to read between the lines."

She takes half a step back, shoving her hands in her pockets.

"So, what's going on?" Albert asks, worried expression on his face, "I can practically hear the gears turning in your head, talk to me."

She swallows, shaking her head. She rocks back and forth her heels anxiously.

"I guess I've just be wondering," she pauses, looking at him, "we're pretty experienced, and we've practiced enough to know what we're doing, so why haven't we stopped?"

Albert's face falls, and he shifts slightly.

"I'm sorry I," he mumbles, eyes downcast, "I didn't know you wanted to stop."

"No!" She exclaims before she can stop herself, shaking her head. "No, I don't want to stop. But Al I-I can't keep doing this if it's still just platonic," god I've been pining after you for weeks how am I just now figuring this out? "Albert I think I have feelings for you, romantic ones, and I don't...I can't keep this up if you're still just thinking of it as practice."

Albert stares at her for a moment, swallowing audibly.

"I don't...I thought this was only platonic for you," he says.

"Well, it started out that way," she shrugs, "I dunno, somewhere along the line I guess that changed."

"Yeah, yeah for me too," he says, smile taking over his face, "I didn't...I didn't wanna say anything because I didn't want to lose you, even if we were still just best friends."

She smiles as well, shaking her head.

"This is so freaking cliché," she says, "I cannot believe I'm falling for my best friend."

Albert's pretty sure his knees buckle at her words, and he does everything he can to keep himself standing.

"So all those jokes the guys made," he stutters, rubbing a hand on the back of his neck, "about you and I pining for each other...guess they were right, huh?"

"Suppose so, yeah."

The boy steps forward, cupping her cheeks gently, as if she might breaks.

"Can I kiss you?" He asks in a whisper.

"You've been kissing me for weeks, Al," she laughs quietly, leaning into his touch.

"Yeah, but that was different," Albert says, "that was platonic, for the most part, and I want this, us, to be not platonic anymore. Unless you don't want that, which is fine, I ju-"

"God shut up and kiss me already."

And he does, pressing their lips together the way he's done over a dozen times. Somehow, despite all of the times before, it feels different, it feels new, it feels better. And this time Y/N can let herself melt into him like she's wanted to do since the beginning, her hands resting on his chest as his still hold her face.

"All that practice did you well," she breathes, pressing her forehead to his, "musta had a good partner."

"The very best," Albert replies, pecking her lips quickly, "does this mean I can kiss you in front of the boys tomorrow?"

"Might as well give them all a happy ending to their incessant teasing," she smiles.

Albert laughs, reaching down to grab his ball bag and tossing it over his shoulder; he slides his hand down her arm to connect their hands. They walk out of the dugout, no longer worried about anyone seeing them, in fact, they're both almost hoping someone would. Albert smiles, pressing a kiss to the back of her hand before he speaks.

"By the way, did I ever mention how freaking _hot_ you look in my jersey?"


End file.
